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Medical scans can give nuclear-plant radiation doses

Some patients are exposed to radiation higher than that recommended for nuclear plant workers

(Image: Pnc/Getty)

X-RAYS and CT scans expose a minority of Americans to radiation levels comparable to working in a nuclear power plant. Are such scans worth it?

Reza Fazel of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues looked at health insurance records for over 650,000 people who had at least one imaging procedure in a three-year period. Most received low doses of radiation, but around 2 per cent got doses equal to or above the suggested yearly exposure for someone working in a nuclear power plant …